Nigel Havers' heartbreaking affair threatened to rip his family apart before tragic death

Nigel Havers' famed for his role as Olympic athlete Lord Andrew Lindsay in Chariots of Fire discussed his heartbreaking affair which threatened to tear his family apart. In an unearthed interview, the now 73-year-old previously spoke candidly about the aftermath of his affair with ex-model and actress Polly Williams, who was his lover while he was still married to Carolyn Cox. The actor and presenter, who fronts the auction show, The Bidding Room, said that it was a "very dark moment" being caught up in the love triangle.

Speaking on Piers Morgan's Life Stories in 2017, Nigel said: "It was either upsetting Carol [Carolyn] or upsetting Polly. It is a very dark moment and I have never really thought about it. I have never talked about this to anybody actually. When you are like that you have nowhere else to go and you can't talk to anyone about it. So I was in a corner but entirely of my own making."

He told Morgan: "I did not see any way of being happy. There was not a happy way out. I got myself into such a ridiculous state ... like whatever decision I made you were never going to be happy. That is so weird isn't it? But I only have myself to blame so what can you do?"

Havers tied the knot with his first wife Cox in 1974 when he was 22 and she was five years older. The couple welcomed their daughter now 41.

Their marriage was hit with a heartbreaking revelation over Havers' affair with model former model and actress Polly Williams.

Cox admitted her world collapsed and she finally left him in 1987.

Havers first met Miss Williams in 1986, when she was still married. They wed in 1989, and Havers referred to her as his "soulmate".

In a candid interview with the Daily Mail in 2011, Cox said she initially didn't know about their affair.

"I didn't find out about him and Polly for ages but the final straw was when he went to Australia and I rang him and the guy at the hotel said, 'Hold on a minute, I'll see if Mr and Mrs Havers are in their room.' It finished me off," she previously told the publication.

Havers, was admittedly torn between the woman he loved and his adoring wife and young daughter, left home, then returned a devastating three times before finally deciding to follow his heart and be with Williams.

But, tragically, Williams died in 2004 after a five-year battle with ovarian cancer. Three years after Polly's death, Havers married 'George' - Georgiana Bronfman.

Cox, his first wife, later shared she didn't regret their marriage but it took a long time before becoming friends again.

She said: "I loved him a lot and we have a wonderful daughter, who I am very close to. I am sorry I didn't get pregnant again but in those days you tended to accept what Nature handed you."

Tragically, Cox died from pneumonia in 2011 at 65.